Twin Alphas: Claimed (A BBW Werewolf Romance) (4 page)

              “First time at the Alpha Claiming Festival?”

              Yikes. Did that mean the handsome blond man she’d seen earlier had wanted to claim her? That seemed unlikely–since when did a guy that hot ever check out a woman like her?

              “Uh…yes.” She laughed nervously. “Is it that obvious?”

              “Don’t worry about it. It seems overwhelming, I know. It’s okay, everyone’s really friendly, and obviously, all you have to do is be here. You don’t have to do anything that you don’t want to – but trust me, you’ll want to once you check out the talent here.”

winked at her.

              “Oh, and happy 21
st
birthday,” the woman added. “My name is Mackenzie.”

              Amelia was 24, but she let that pass with a polite “Thank you!”  So, apparently women were required to be here, but they didn’t come to this festival until they turned 21. 

              OK, so as long as she pretended to be nervous about her first time at the festival, she might actually be able to pull this off. She’d have an excuse for hanging back and not talking too much.

              “All right, follow me,” Mackenzie said. “I’ll show you to the women’s quarters.  We should stop and get a drink first, though.”

              “Oh, I, uh…I didn’t bring much money with me.”

              Mackenzie burst into laughter. “Money? Good heavens, neither did I. You know how Alphas are, they’re way too macho and gentlemanly to ever let a woman pay for a drink.”

              “That’s true. Thank God for that,” Amelia said brightly. Hmm. Alphas sounded okay to her so far. 

              She followed Mackenzie through the clearing and up a hill.  The festival spread out before them looking sort of like any other country fair if you weren’t paying too much attention.

There were food booths and bars and she could see a big stage with a band, and there was a pack of wolves standing behind the band, howling at appropriate intervals to provide a chorus.   There were vendors tents and vendors booths, and men strolling through the crowd juggling balls of fire, and incredibly hot guys everywhere, flirting with pretty young women. It was like she’d walked in on a convention for bodybuilders.

Amelia felt a little underdressed; the women were all dressed up to flirt, and she was wearing jeans and a flowery buttoned blouse.  She’d tried to dress practically, thinking she would probably be sleeping in the woods. The last thing she’d expected would be that she’d be at a giant festival where thousands of humans and werewolves were getting their freak on.

Nobody seemed to mind, however; she could swear that practically every guy they walked past stopped to do an appreciative double take. At home, nobody ever checked her out like that.

              “So, where are you from?” Mackenzie asked.

              “Oh, up north,” Amelia said, gesturing vaguely. “You?”

              “About an hour from here, a town called Peakesville.”

              “So what do you do for a living?” Amelia asked, desperate to keep the conversation off of her.

              Mackenzie shrugged.  “I’m a starving artist, you could say. I waitress for extra money, got some paintings in a gallery.”

              “Oh! Totally cool. I so wish I was artistic. I’m a teacher.”  As they walked, she realized that she’d been right; all the male wolves were checking out both her and Mackenzie.

              “I’m not used to all of this attention,” she murmured.

              “Well, you must have expected it,” Mackenzie said.

              She should have expected it? Why?  “Oh?” she said, without elaborating too much.

              “Us bigger girls obviously have the advantage here. Notice we’re getting some dirty looks from the skinny ones?”

              “Now that you mention it.”

              “You know how werewolves are. They like a woman with child bearing hips. I bet all these guys are looking at us, thinking about how many cubs we’d have.”

              Amelia couldn’t help but stifle a laugh.

              “Not into wolves?” Mackenzie asked. “Not all girls are, obviously.  If you’re not, there’s a whole bunch of girls who just hang out and bide their time by the women’s quarters, until the festival’s over.”

              “The jury’s still out,” Amelia said.  She wondered what the human men in this world thought about the fact that all these women were required to come hang out with werewolves.  Too bad she couldn’t ask any direct questions.

              “What about you?” she asked. “Do you prefer them furry?”

              Mackenzie burst into laughter, throwing her head back and laughing so hard tears ran down her cheeks. “Oh, that’s hilarious. I like you,” she said. “I’ll have to get your number so we can hang out some time when the festival is over. Yes, I like them furry.  I have my eye on a particular pair, and as far as I can tell, the feeling’s mutual. This festival might end in a claiming for yours truly. Wish me luck.”

              Amelia glanced at a group of men who were standing by a light pole, gesturing at it. The pole had three plastic globes on it, and looked like a normal decorative lantern pole back in her own world, but its lights were flickering.  As the men stood there, the light grew steady and bright.

              “Those men don’t have necklaces,” Amelia said, without thinking.

              “Well, of course they don’t. They’re not werewolves. They’re mages,” Mackenzie said, looking at her oddly.

              “Oh. Yes. I know. Sorry, too much sun,” Amelia muttered.

              Mackenzie was leading Amelia towards a bar as they spoke. It was an outdoors bar that looked as if it was a permanent festival structure, built from thick round logs. A sign identifying it as the “Two Moon Tavern” arched over the front.  There were already werewolves and women crowding around the front of the bar, and reggae music blasting from the speakers.

              They listen to reggae music, Amelia marveled. And damn it, she really liked Mackenzie. It totally sucked that she’d have to go home and never see her again.

              They reached the bar, which had half a dozen bartenders serving drinks as fast as they could. Their tip jars were overflowing already.

              “Now what do we do?” Amelia called out to Mackenzie. “You’re my guide.”

              “We just stand here and look adorable,” Mackenzie answered, raising her voice to be heard over the music. “Somebody’s going to buy us a drink in the next sixty seconds.”

              They stood there, and Amelia felt a sudden warmth sweep over her, as if clouds had broken and a sunbeam was shining down just on her.

              Then one of the men at the bar turned around to stare at her, and the bottom dropped out of her stomach, and she stumbled back a step.

             
Oh my God.

             
He was so handsome it took her breath away.  He was tall and muscular, with thick shiny brown hair she wanted to tangle her fingers in and a strong jaw. His lips were full with a cupid’s bow top. His eyes were a caramel brown – and he was staring straight at her like he wanted to devour her.

              “You like?” Mackenzie grabbed her by the arm and started dragging her towards him. “His name is Holt, and his twin is Clayton. Holt’s the nice one, Clayton’s kind of an ass but so damned hot. If I didn’t like my guys so much, I’d be all over these two.”

              “Maybe I should wait,” Amelia said, feeling panic bubbling up inside her.

              She couldn’t imagine talking to this Adonis without blurting out something really stupid. She wasn’t used to having men this hot look at her. In Cedar Heights, when it came to men, she and her sister had always been the invisible girls – except for Bradley, and he was a shameless mooch and gold-digger.

              “Holt, this is my new best friend Amelia. She’s really hilarious and obviously smoking hot. Be nice to her or I’ll beat you silly,” Mackenzie said sweetly.

              Holt ignored Mackenzie as if she were invisible. He reached out and grabbed Amelia’s hand. She stifled a gasp; when his strong, warm hand folded around hers, she felt a hot wave of pure pleasure roll over her and she was mortifyingly aware that her panties were now damp with the juices of her excitement.

              “Amelia.” Holt’s voice was deep and warm and sexy. When he said her name, he somehow caressed it with his voice.

              “Oh, my God, you are so incredibly…I mean, I don’t….” Yep. She definitely had the small talk down pat. She sounded as if someone had just injected Novocain directly into the speech center of her brain.

              But he didn’t seem to mind. He just looked at her with a mixture of lust and tenderness and possession like she’d never seen before.

              “There is someone that you’ve got to meet,” he said, pulling her with him through the crowd.

              Holt’s heart hammered against his ribs as he led Amelia out of the bar and down the path, heading towards the west side of the festival. The feeling of her hand in his sent a sensation rushing through him like he’d never experienced before.  She was curvy and voluptuous and beautiful, and she just felt completely right.  He’d found her. She was The One. 

              He couldn’t wait to see the look on his brother’s face when he laid eyes on her. Holt was absolutely sure that Clayton would feel exactly the same way that he had.

              “Where are we going?” she asked, glancing around her in bewilderment. “I haven’t been to the women’s quarters yet. Should I go check in there?”

              “You won’t need to,” he assured her. There was no way he was letting another wolf get his paws on her; she belonged to him and Clayton. He’d known her all of sixty seconds, and he already had decided that.

              He saw all the appreciative glances she was getting from the other men there, and a low growl rumbled in his throat. He gave a warning scowl at an Alpha who seemed way too interested in Amelia, and the Alpha shrugged and backed off.

              Then he turned his attention back to Amelia.

              “Oh, and I’m taking you to meet my brother Clayton. I think he’s gonna like you,” he said with a grin.

              It took a few minutes to fight their way through the crowds. He led her to the Paw And Claw bar; it was his brother’s favorite watering hole on the West side of the festival, and he knew Clayton would show up there sooner or later.

              “What are you drinking?” he asked as he pulled out a barstool for her to sit on.

              “Now, there’s an excellent question,” she said.  She scanned the drinks that were listed on the sign hanging above the wall, frowning in apparent puzzlement at the names of the drinks. Wolf’s Folly, Howl At The Moon, Mating Mayhem, Two Moon Hangover…the usual.  She seemed utterly bemused, however.

So she wasn’t much of a drinker, didn’t go out to bars a lot, he surmised. That was okay. Everything about her was okay. He wanted to know all about her. Where she was from, what her family was like, what she did for a living, what she sounded like when she came…

              He grinned to himself. He’d know that soon enough.

              “I’ll have a Love Bite,” she said finally.

              “Excellent choice. And I’ll have a Fangs For The Memories,” he said.  He pulled a twenty and laid it on the bar. “Keep the change.” She gave a curious glance at the bill, as if she’d never seen one before. 

              “So, tell me all about yourself,” he said, leaning on the bar and staring into her eyes. They were a deep, chocolate brown with hints of gold in them. Her hair was dark and thick and shiny and fell in waves several inches past her shoulder. He couldn’t wait to tangle his fingers in it.

              The bartender set the drinks in front of them.  They were in big plastic “Claiming Festival” mugs, and the handle was shaped like a wolf’s tail.  There were little ears on the mug, and a wolf’s face on the front. “Claiming Festival 2014” was etched into the plastic, with a picture of a howling wolf.

              She grabbed her drink and took a healthy swig. Good, a girl who loved her food and drink. He liked that.

              He smiled at her, and she smiled back, and he felt as if he were floating on air.

A drop of the drink lingered on her lips, and she licked it off, and he thought he’d pass out.
Let me do that
, he thought hungrily.

              Her figure was driving him to distraction. Those big generous hips, that soft rounded tummy, generous breasts…He felt himself growing rock hard, and forced himself to stare straight into her eyes.

              “This is my first Claiming festival, and I’m really nervous,” she said. “I’d actually rather talk about you. Tell me all about yourself. Have you been to festivals before?”

              He laughed at that.  “Of course we have,” he said. “We’ve been to five. Had a lot of fun, but obviously we hadn’t met the right one yet, or we wouldn’t still be here. My pack is the Bay Hills pack, by the way.  We live off of the Twin Forks River.  Our business is mostly dairy cattle. You like farms?”